Through the Dimensions: Mission 1
by hellhound-d.o.w
Summary: Inspired by Sliders and The One. Three people are sent to stop the evils through the dimensions. With limited knowledge of the end, they must change it. Not Naruto-centric, no pairings.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Slayers, Ranma 1/2, or any David Weber characters.

All criticism is welcome, however, if you are going to try and flame me, at least be original. There are only so many times you can be told, "You Suck!!!" before it gets boring.

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**Village Gate's…**

It was a normal Konoha morning at the south east gate. Since their shift was almost over and they didn't expect anyone this time of morning, they were surprised to hear a not so subtle cough outside their post. Looking out, they saw an odd sight. Three travelers. Not so unusual in and of itself, except how the travelers looked.

One was huge, easily seven and a half feet tall and heavily muscled. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes. He was faintly smiling, but one would have to look close to see it. He was wearing light brown pants with an off white long sleeved shirt, dark brown boots, and a black belt. A strange village symbol was being used as his belt buckle. It was solid black except the symbol was a silver crescent moon. On his back he carried a sword that looked to be about six feet long in total, but about a foot of that was the hilt, along with a large duffel bag that was strapped over the sheath of the sword, leaving it free to be drawn at a moments notice.

The second person looked extremely bored. He was tall, but it was hard to tell next to the first guy, probably just short of six feet tall. He, also, had dark brown hair, but his eye color was unknown due to the sunglasses he wore. He was wearing a solid black short sleeved shirt tucked into a pair of forest camouflage pants. He, too, was wearing the symbol of a crescent moon on his belt buckle. Black fingerless gloves on each hand, white bandages wrapping all the way up his arms, and black boots completed the ensemble. Strapped low on his left thigh was a kunai and shuriken pouch though.

The final member was short to begin with, but looked even shorter next to the first two. She was about four foot, nine inches. She had fiery orange/red hair going down to about her mid back. Her eyes were red in color. She was wearing a black headband, yellow short sleeved shirt, red pants, black boots, two belts that were crisscrossed in the front, a kunai and shuriken pouch on both legs and a wakizashi hanging behind her on the belts. She also was wearing the crescent moon belt buckle at the connection point of the two belts. The girl had what looked like tattoos or seals marked on the back of her hands and most of the way up her arms. She was also looking decidedly annoyed at something.

The two chunnins looked at each other, shrugged, and one walked to the travelers.

"Could we see your papers please?"

The bored looking one reached into a pocket most of the way down his right leg, pulled out a scroll, and tossed it to the guard. He opened it and looked through the contents.

"You three are genin sent here for the chunnin exam? Where's your jounin-sensei?"

The bored looking one started to speak, but the girl beat him to it.

"She had to go back to our home village for some reason; the note calling her back also said they would be sending someone else in her stead. And yes, we are here for the exams."

The guard nodded and rolled the scroll back up; handing it back to the one he received it from.

"Would you like an escort to the Hokage tower? The information said you would need to speak with him before the exam."

"That would be appreciated," said the one that had the scroll.

"Where is Yamigakure anyway? I have never heard of that Hidden Village before."

"If we told you that, then it wouldn't be the Village Hidden in Darkness anymore, would it?" asked the large one humorously.

The guard that asked the question chuckled a bit.

"No, I suppose it wouldn't then. I'm Ichiro, buy the way. The guy over there is Isamu."

"My name is Bahzell. These are my teammates, Inverse Lina and Jigoku no Ryouken."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Lina," said the short redhead.

"I'm Ryouken."

Just after introducing himself, Ryouken glanced to a spot just to Isamu's left. Not even a second had passed when a jounin chewing on a senbon needle appeared in the spot he was looking.

"Yo, I'm Genma. You the three that want to see the Hokage?"

Ryouken nodded to him.

"Alright then, follow me."

With that he turned and began to walk toward a tower near the cliff. As they started to follow him, Ichiro yelled out as he returned to his guard post.

"Good luck on the exams."

Lina turned around, walking backwards for a second.

"Thanks."

And with that, the three followed Genma into Konoha.

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**Hokage's Office…**

"Hokage-sama, you have some visitors," said Genma as he knocked on a pair of ornate doors.

"Enter," said a voice from beyond the doors. As the doors opened, it was easy to connect the voice that spoke to the kindly looking old man sitting behind the desk. He appeared to be in his sixties to seventies, but still quite spry for his age. He had an easy smile as he watched Genma enter with the three visitors. The three Yami nins stopped in front of the Hokage's desk.

"What can I do for you three?" asked the Hokage.

Ryouken pulled out the same scroll he showed to the gate guards and handed it to the Hokage as he spoke.

"We would like permission to participate in the chunnin exams."

As the Hokage opened the scroll, he asked, "Why didn't your village send notification ahead of time asking for you?"

"They didn't receive an invitation for it and once they received info, we were the closest team of genin that could get here in time. Our jounin instructor had to return to our village and they are sending one to replace her soon."

The Hokage nods his head slightly as he listens to them while reading the scroll. Once he finishes reading, he rolls the scroll up and picks another scroll off his desk, and tosses both to Ryouken.

"How soon do you think your new sensei will be here?"

"If they send who I think they are, he should be here two days before the exam."

The Hokage nods his head again.

"I will allow you to participate if your sensei is here the day before the exam begins. I would also like to speak with you sensei when he or she arrives. Genma, if you don't mind, could you show them to the hotel for the exam participants, as well as a training ground that they can practice at?"

"It will be no problem, Hokage-sama."

"By the way, where is the village hidden in the Darkness, and when was it established?"

"My apologies, Hokage-sama, but only jounin and above are authorized to tell about our village outside of it," said Ryouken.

"I will ask your sensei when he or she arrives then. I hope you enjoy your stay in our village. If your sensei arrives on time, good luck on the exams."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama."

With that, Ryouken, Lina, and Bahzell left his office with Genma.

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**In the Aoi Shishi ****Ryokan**** …**

Bahzell and Ryouken waited in their room for Lina to join from hers while playing card games. Once they hear a knock at the door, they stopped, let Lina in and waited for her to speak.

She looks around for a minute, closed the curtain, and sat down next to both of them. She then touched both of their shoulders and began to speak.

"_Into the darkness of the mind, allow us a place to speak. Mindscape Walker!"_

As she said that, all three slumped down in their seats.

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**Inside Lina's mind…**

Lina, Ryouken, and Bahzell found themselves seated around a small table with four chairs. Everything else except for each other and a small circle around the table was shrouded in darkness.

"Okay, guys, once Fei gets here, if they send him, we will change plans as necessary. Till then, no using anything above basic techniques, no fighting any other people, and keep an eye out for any Jinchuuriki, or word on Tsunade of the Sannin. Unless we hear otherwise, we are to play our role as genin taking the exam until Orochimaru makes his move. Only then will we act unless a Jinchuuriki is in trouble or Akatsuki shows up."

"I still don't see why we don't just hunt them down and kill them now, instead of using this whole façade," says Bahzell.

"Can't. They need to battle a lot of this themselves, but if we come forward with info, they may or may not trust us, or it could change too much, too quickly. We are only here to create balance and move this reality farther from the main one," voiced Ryouken.

"Two last things before I release this spell. One; we need to keep a low profile as much as possible, so no spying or anything. Two; since I pulled you both into my mind, you are both going to have one hell of a headache when we wake up," says Lina as she grins.

"Huh?"

"Wha?"

As Ryouken and Bahzell started to speak, Lina said, _"Mindscape Walker: Release."_

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**Back in the inn…**

"Damn you, Lina. I'm going to kick your ass for that," shouted Ryouken as he woke up.

"Keep it down, please. She already left," said Bahzell.

"You got anything for headaches?"

"No, Lina is the support person for our team. She has all the medicine."

"Dammit. I'm going to bed then."

With that, Ryouken stalked to the bed and fell asleep. Bahzell just chuckled for a minute before laying as much of himself as he could on the other bed, leaving his feet and half his shins hanging off the end.

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**Next day in the Konoha Market area…**

Lina is sitting with Ryouken at a small street side café.

"Lina, remember, this is your treat for that stunt yesterday."

"Yeah, yeah, I know sheesh. Ya think you could take a joke."

As they say talking, they noticed a few of the villagers started to move away from a group of ninja walking down the street. One was tall with spiky silver hair and his village emblem slanted to cover his left eye. The second was raven haired with dark blue shirt and white shorts, and looked annoyed. The third had pink hair and seemed to be the reason for the second's annoyance. The final member appeared to be the reason for the villagers movement, as anything that orange would case anyone to move out of its way. Or that's what they would have thought if the looks weren't of hatred.

Both Lina and Ryouken looked at each other.

"You don't think that he's…?"

Just as Ryouken said that, one of the villagers nearby started muttering about how the demon brat should have died on his mission.

Ryouken looked like he was about to beat the villager when Lina stopped him. She grinned at him.

"Let's have a little fun with them."

"What do you mean?"

"Just watch," said Lina.

With that, Lina stood and walked to the villager.

"Excuse me, ma'am. Is there something wrong?"

The villager seemed startled for a minute until she saw it was Lina asking her.

"Oh, nothing much, just wishing that they would get rid of that demon."

"Maybe my teammate and I can help? Care to join us?"

"No, I couldn't ask you to do anything; it would just get you in trouble."

"I insist, if nothing else it will help you relax talking about it."

With that, Lina practically dragged the woman back to their table. As she sat down, Ryouken turns to her.

"How do you do, miss? My name is Jigoku no Ryouken, but everyone just calls me Ryouken. The one that dragged you over here is my teammate, Inverse Lina."

"Hello, I'm Yamanaka Hitomi. I suppose I'm doing okay, would be better if a little demon was dead."

"What demon are you speaking of? Maybe we can help get rid of it."

"I don't know if I can talk about it. It's not really allowed."

"Don't worry, I'm sure they won't mind if you tell us," Ryouken says as he smiles at her.

"O…okay. Have you heard about the demon fox that attacked our village years ago?"

"I've heard about it, but how does that pertain to this demon you are talking about? The demon fox was said to be killed by your Yondaime Hokage," asks Lina.

"Well, it is true he defeated it, but he couldn't kill it, so he sealed it into a child's form. It is just waiting for a chance to kill us all."

"So the demon you wish was dead is in this kid?"

"Yes, I guess you could say that."

"I have a question for you, Hitomi-san. Say a criminal killed someone you cared for, but he was captured and put into prison. Would you break the prison to try and kill the criminal?"

"No. If I tried that, there is a good chance the criminal would escape and either kill me or go on to kill others. Plus he is already serving his punishment for his crimes."

"Okay, then why would you want us to try and destroy the demon fox's prison," asks Ryouken.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the only seal he could use to defeat the demon fox would have to be the highest level of seal. Otherwise it could break free. The only one that is like that is the Shiki Fuuin. It calls upon the Shinigami to seal the soul of the target into something or someone else. Sometimes they have the Shinigami eat the soul. The price of this seal, though, is the soul of the user. So that means he didn't seal it into the kids form, he sealed it into the kid. Sort of like putting a criminal into prison, the criminal doesn't become the prison. So if we killed the kid, the demon fox would escape, and somehow, I don't think it would be happy after being imprisoned for, what, thirteen years?"

"So…you mean all this time…no…it can't be…"

"Yeah, everyone has been punishing an innocent for the crimes of someone else."

"I…I have to go. Thank you for helping me with my problems. Have a good day Lina-san, Ryouken-san."

"Ja ne, Hitomi-san."

After she left, Lina turned to Ryouken.

"I wonder how long it is before she tells everyone she knows."

"Well, she looks like a gossip monger, so it will probably take a while to get to everyone she knows, but it should spread to everyone in the village by the exams, if my guess it correct."

"Hmmm, you may be right. I see the Trust and Silence seals are working well."

"Nice how you slipped the Trust Seal on her. Lucky she was a civilian. It wouldn't have worked on a ninja."

"True. Shall we finish and head back to the inn?"

"Sure."

With that, Ryouken left some money on the table and they both left.

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**Hokage's office…**

The Sandaime Hokage leaned back from his scrying glass in thought about what he had just seen. They knew things they weren't supposed to, yet they seemed to be trying to help him with the information they knew. Were they friend or foe? He shakes his head. Just thinking about it won't find anything out. He reaches over and hits a button at the edge of his desk. Seconds later, an ANBU appears.

"I need you to keep an eye on the three from Yamigakure for the entire time they are here. And leave a message at the gate for them to send their jounin sensei directly here as soon as he arrives."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

The ANBU vanishes as suddenly as he appeared.

"Hmmm, now what will you three do?"

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**In the Aoi Shishi ****Ryokan**** …**

Bahzell looks up at the door as it opens, revealing Ryouken carrying some to-go food, Lina right behind him.

"Hey Bahzell. Brought you some take out. Hope you like ramen," said Lina as she walked in.

"Well, if that's what you got me, then I hope I like it as well," Bahzell answered with a slight smile, "So how was everything in the village? I haven't walked around yet to look."

"Like any other village, except more dangerous and peaceful at the same time. It's interesting to watch normal people walking around without a care in the world as ninja hop from rooftop to rooftop above them, or walk past openly carrying weapons. But then you watch one kid walk by and they act like he is the devil himself…except powerless and weak."

"So the villagers are making a self-fulfilling prophecy with the kid?"

"Yeah, but Lina and myself may have put a dent in that today."

"Nothing too drastic, I hope."

"No, just lay some gossip onto a gossip hound. If it works out, then by the end of the chunnin exams, every ones opinion of him will be shifted slightly, if not changed entirely."

"Well, that could be interesting. What happened to laying low till our sensei arrived?" asked Bahzell.

"It had very low risk and high rewards if it succeeded. It goes very far towards our goal of helping Jinchuuriki and accomplishing our mission. And if it backfires, it has low risk of causing our mission to fail or making it worse for the kid," answered Lina.

"Hey, Ryou, think you can pick me up some senbon needles next time you go out? I'm about 30 thousand short to complete my technique preparation. I could also use some blank scrolls and ink," said Bahzell.

"Yeah, I guess, although I don't think the weapon shops around here are going to have that amount on hand. Plus it might be noticed and raise questions with the Hokage about us."

"Yeah, Ryou's right," spoke Lina, "but I could use a few dozen myself as well as a new whetstone for my blades. Some ninja wire would be useful as well."

"Fine, I'll pick it up tomorrow, and if they don't have it, I'll order it for before the exams. Do you want anything else? Tell me now or I won't get it for you."

"Rations and sealing scrolls for them. They will probably have a survival exam," said Lina.

"Okay. Lucky the room is free for participants, otherwise we would be stretched thin till our sensei got here."

As they made random small talk, Bahzell was busy wrapping senbon needles with explosive tags, Lina was studying some scrolls, and Ryouken was doing handstand push-ups.

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**Hokage's Office…**

'What is there mission? These children are more and more mysterious the more I find out,' thought Sarutobi as he watched the three Yami nins through his scrying ball.

_**To Be Continued…**_

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**A/N**: I know, as overused as Yamigakure is, and how much I complain about unoriginal stuff, it is kind hypocritical of me to use it. I have a reason for using it though, as it shall be seen later on. Wouldn't want to spoil it for ya. Fair warning ahead of time for all the people that like to complain about people being OOC; I am the writer. I will write it how I see the character might react in that situation. I am neither the best writer in the world, nor am I psychic, and most likely, neither are you. There is no one hundred percent certain way people will react in a situation, I could be right in how I put it, or I could be wrong. And assuming the Great Wall of Writers Block doesn't fall on me, this will be epic length. I really hate that wall…


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Slayers, Ranma 1/2, Xenogears, Magic: The Gathering, or any David Weber characters.

All criticism is welcome, however, if you are going to try and flame me, at least be original. There are only so many times you can be told, "You Suck!!" before it gets boring.

A/N: I suppose I should have warned that I'm not quick to update anything, mostly because I'm not much of a writer. Only real reason I write is to get the ideas out of my head. I'm going to try to update the stories I'm working on at least twice a month, but I make no promises. Plus if things work out for me, I won't even be online for about a year and a half soon. Soon being a relative term. Characters that are out of character will remain that way. I have my reasons and they will be explained in time…maybe. I suppose further warning that only Mission 1 is based in the Naruto-verse and that I will later switch to different 'verses is warranted as well. I may come back to the Naruto-verse in a later mission, but that's assuming I actually start to like Naruto again. So far I've been disappointed with Shippuuden and have stopped watching around episode 37. Well, enough chit-chat, on with the story.

Additional A/N:

"_**Date/Time"**_

**"Place"**

"Normal speech"

_'Thoughts'_

_"English/Chaos Words for spells"_

All else will be annotated as needed.

--

_**Three days before the exam**_

**At the Main Gate…**

Ichiro turns to Isamu.

"So who did we piss off to end up with gate duty all the time?"

Isamu responds without looking at him.

"I told you we shouldn't have played that prank on the Hokage's secretary."

"Whatever, it was still funny. If Naruto would have been there to help with it, it would have been better. I heard he got back from a C-rank mission the other day."

"Yeah, it got a little hectic on it from what I heard. Changed to an A-rank shortly into it."

"That's a little more than hectic. No one was severely hurt on their team?"

"No, seemed like everyone was okay. I saw them walking to the Hokage's office when they got back."

"That's good. I would hate to see the kid hurt. He's too much fun to have around. Hey, looks like a visitor is coming," Ichiro says as he points in the distance.

Isamu looks to where Ichiro is pointing.

"Yeah, they are alone, so probably just a regular traveler."

As he gets closer, they can start to see more detail on of him. He appeared to be about 6 feet tall with black hair in a long ponytail behind him. He was wearing a white gi-style shirt with blue lining along the edges, black kung-fu pants, and grey and white boots. Around his waist area he had what looked like a black metal plate with an ornate crescent moon held in place by a purple sash to protect his stomach and most of his crotch. The only thing he seemed to have with him was a large backpack, which he carried over one shoulder. As he neared the gate, he comes to stop in front of the guards.

"Greetings, I am Wong Fei Fong of Yamigakure. I have come to meet up with my students for the chuunin exams. Here is my orders and pass," Fei says as he handed a scroll to the Ichiro that wasn't in his hand a second ago.

Ichiro looks at the scroll for a minute and nods his head.

"Everything appears to be in order; however, we have orders to escort you to Hokage-sama when you arrive. If you will wait for a jounin to arrive to guide you," Ichiro asks as he motions for the side of the gate.

Shortly afterwards, a jounin with backs under his eyes and a katana across his back appeared next to the gate.

"My name is cough Hayate Gekko. cough I have come to escort you to the Hokage's office. Please follow me."

"Of course, Hayate-san."

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**Hokage's Office…**

Sarutobi looks up from his paperwork as he hears a knock on the door and telling the person to enter.

"Hokage-sama, this is the Jounin-sensei of the Yamigakure genins."

"Thank you, Hayate, you may go now."

Once Hayate left, Sarutobi turned to Fei.

"Greetings, Hokage-sama, my name is Wong Fei Fong. My apologies for not arriving with my genin team, but I was on a separate mission and they were with a substitute sensei."

"Oh, that's alright, Wong-san, I don't hold it against you."

"I do not mean to be rude, but may I ask what you need of me? I am anxious to check on my team."

"Of course, I am just wondering where Yamigakure is. I have never heard of it, and neither has anyone else I have asked."

"Ah, that is understandable, Hokage-sama. We do not usually where any emblem to signify our village and usually people assume we are normal mercenaries. Our village isn't really a village, more a roaming camp and we are constantly on the move. Our roots date back to the ancient Gypsies. We never tell anyone the location partially because we don't know the exact location and only jounin and above have the seals tattooed into the skin to find the camp at its current location."

"Interesting. So in actuality, you have no need to take the chuunin exams like the rest of the villages. Why, then, did you decide to take this one?"

"Our current Leader wants to integrate more into current ninja society, and we could always use the increase in business. The chuunin exams work as a type of advertising for us in that way."

"Okay. Last question. Aren't your students a little old to be genin?"

"As you know, age is no definition of power, nor is rank. We don't normally assign ranks such as Jounin, Chuunin, and Genin to our people. We hold a village wide tournament once every three years. It is composed of four rounds, with the first three rounds set up as random one-on-one matches. All who lose the first round we ranked as genin this last time. Second round losers were Chuunin, and third round losers were Jounin. The last round is a free-for-all with the remaining competitors. The winner is the Boss for the next three years and the losers are our Spec-Ops, the equivalent of your ANBU. So one year you could be the boss, the next, you could be a Genin because you fought the wrong person in the first round."

"So roughly half of your village is ranked genin, one quarter chunnin, and the last quarter is split between Jounin and Spec-Ops? And it switches up every three years?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama. We do not believe in having a council; however the Boss usually has no problem with taking advice, especially from the previous Boss, no matter what rank they are now. I was the boss at one time as well, but I think I won mostly by luck. My opponents for the fist three rounds were fresh trainees."

"You have a very interesting system there. I have many more questions about it, but I did say that was the last question, three questions ago, so I will let you go to your team and check on them, but I would like to talk to you during the first two parts of the exam sometime."

"Of course, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi pushes a button on his desk.

"Send in Hayate-san to escort Wong-san to his genins."

Seconds later, Hayate steps through the door.

"If you will cough follow me again, cough I will lead you to where cough your team is staying."

"My thanks, Hayate-san."

After Fei and Hayate leave, Sarutobi beings out his crystal scrying ball to watch them when they meet.

--

**Aoi Shishi Ryokan…**

Ryouken looks carefully at Bahzell's face, but can't seem to get a read on him. He was like a statue, no emotion at all. Lina was grinning like a maniac, especially in comparison to Bahzell.

'_Oh well, it's now or never,'_ thought Ryouken.

Ryouken turns to Lina.

"Lina…do you have any two's?"

Lina's smile disappears faster than ice cream in front of Sailor Moon.

"DAMMIT," Lina exclaims as she hands over her second to last card.

"Thanks. I needed that, Lina."

Just then, they hear a knock at the door. Not expecting any guests, they set the cards down and grab a weapon each just before Lina gets up to answer the door. On the other side stands Fei with a mild grin on his face.

"So Ryouken got you again in Go Fish, Lina?"

Lina's eye twitches slightly.

"Hello…sensei. Took you long enough to get here."

"Now, now, Lina. Be nice."

As Fei enters the room, Ryouken looks up at him.

"Any news for the exam?"

"Yes, and if Lina will do a Mindscape Walker into my mind, I will tell you three everything."

"Crap, I hate going into other peoples minds with that," muttered Lina.

Out loud she said, "Okay, everyone take a seat at the table then."

"_Into the Darkness of the mind, allow us a place to speak. Mindscape Walker!"_

--

**Inside Fei's Mind…**

Lina, Bahzell, Ryouken, and Fei are sitting around a table in what appears to be a room made of metal with several large metal statues in it. Fei immediately calls the other threes attention while handing folders out.

"In here is all the information on your targets and what we believe will happen with our introduction here. You don't have to read it, just hold onto it when we exit the technique and you will have it in your memory. Hopefully the interference you two created won't work against us."

"But it wasn't anything harmful," Lina pouts.

"I never said it was, Lina, just that it wasn't planned. Okay, now to business. During the first exam, we will do nothing except observe all the participants that pass and possibly steal Kabuto's info cards. We can either change information at that point or just destroy it depending on how thorough it is. During the second exam, we are to try and stop Orochimaru from giving the cursed seal to Sasuke. If we don't succeed in that, then we will not pursue. Try to make sure a team of no-names pass along with you, and I will make sure you battle them during the preliminaries. If we can't get another team to pass, we will try and get Kabuto to stay in for the prelims, he might do it anyway to try and get information on you three since you are an unknown quantity and Orochimaru hates that. If that is the case, I will work it so that Bahzell and Lina will battle each other and either double KO or one will forfeit, while Ryouken fights Kabuto, preferably killing him. Remember, the only way to kill him is to remove a vital organ, be it brain, heart, or liver. Hell, rip his spine out if you want."

All three nod, Ryouken with a sadistic grin on his face.

"During the third round, if you fight before the ambush begins, conserve energy and finish it as fast as you can. If not, don't worry about it. Ryouken, you will be taking out the summons. Lina, assist the ANBU in getting through the barrier to attack Orochimaru. If you can take out any of the Sound Four while you are at it, try for the Genjutsu mistress, Tayuya I think her name was. We could convert her to our side and we need the illusionists. If you can't, just try and kill Orochimaru. We can track her down later and make an offer."

"Got it," Lina says.

"Bahzell, you are to go and guard the civilians and take out any enemy troops you see. There is an attack on the school and hospital planned and I am going to tell the Hokage that our mission is to take out Orochimaru for a supposed attack on our village and offer our assistance during the invasion. Change that, Ryouken, you are to take out any enemy troops you see while I take on the summons. I'll use my 'summon' to take them out. We don't want you to show too much power to take them out. During the invasion, all restrictions on techniques are removed except Dragon Slave and Giga Slave."

"Ah, man. WHY?"

"We don't need to destroy the village, Lina. Bahzell, area of effect attacks are authorized, just make sure the civilians are safe before you use them. Best bet is to stick to defensive techniques until then, especially if you are outnumbered by the attackers. If you are going to summon, stick to one race, preferably either Xenomorphs or Beasts. Do not use Slivers; I would rather save them for Akatsuki. They are too dangerous to use before then. After the invasion, we will have another meeting to determine what to do after that."

"Okay, anything else we need to know before Lina cancels the technique? I would like to get my headache over with," states Ryouken.

"Just try not to change too much before the exam; we still have two more days before then. Lina, you can end it now."

"Okay. _Mindscape Walker: Release."_

--

**Aoi Shishi Ryokan…**

"Oh my freakin' head…anybody get the license plate on that truck that hit me," mutters Lina as she rubs her temples.

"No, but it's the second time it hit Bahzell and me. How does it feel?"

"Remind me to keep some headache medicine around next time I use that. Preferably large amounts of alcohol wash it down with as well."

"Only if you agree to share," Bahzell grumbles.

Fei just grins while playing solitaire.

"Well, if you three are through grumbling, I have your funding till you return to base camp. Don't spend it all in one place. We still have quite a while till we return."

"How much is it," asks Bahzell.

"You each have 2500 ryo (1) to play with. I have an additional 50 thousand for room, food, and weapon replacement expenses. You three might want to go to bed, it's getting late."

"Hai," all three mutter before heading to their rooms for bed.

--

_**One Day till First Exam…**_

**Random Konoha Street…**

Bahzell walked indifferently down the street, ignoring the stares of all the people around him. He was used to it; his height always did make him stick out in a crowd…literally. It had its advantages, though, so he didn't mind the gaping stares of the incompetents around him. All he cared about was finding something to eat and then checking out the weapons shop for more senbon needles for the technique he was making. Ryouken had told him that they were getting a fresh batch of supplies in today, otherwise he wouldn't have bothered and just waited till the third round before buying the rest of it.

Halfway to the ramen stand, he heard a kid yelling to someone else to let him go. Curious, and hating bullies, he goes towards the voice, finding some girl with pink hair, a short blonde kid in a hideous orange jumpsuit, a little girl with orange hair sticking up in two clumps on her head, and a small boy with glasses on and snot running out his nose. All four were staring at three people in between them and himself. One was another little kid with a really long scarf being held off the ground by a by a teenager in what looked like black pajamas with cat ears and a blonde girl with four ponytails and a large fan. There also seemed to be two people in a tree next to the alley that were watching what was happening. Deciding to help out the kid being bullied, Bahzell pulls his sword from his sheath and speaks out.

"Seeing as you can pick on someone smaller than you, let's see how you do with someone bigger."

Everyone turns to look at him, standing at one end of the alley, sword resting easily over his shoulder, giving a hard stare at the kid in black. A few of the kids and the blonde girl openly staring at the huge person.

"Oi, mind your own business," says the kid in black, "there's no need for you to be involved.

"You involved me when you decided to bully the kid. Drop him before I drop you," says Bahzell as he begins to walk forward slowly.

The four at the other end of the alley just stare at the giant that came to their aid.

"Oi, Sakura-chan, have you ever seen him before," asks the short blonde kid.

"I've never even heard anyone that big before," mutters the pink haired girl now identified as Sakura.

Bahzell pulled his sword off his shoulder when he was about twenty feet from the kid in black and pointed it at the kid with one hand at arms length.

"I said put him down, this is your last chance before I drop you," Bahzell growls to him, "hmmm, it seems one of the two in the tree wants to get you first."

Bahzell slowly lowers the sword as the kid in black and the blonde girl slowly turn to look in the tree next to the alley. In it they see a kid with dark hair staring to another branch of the tree in shock. On that other branch, they see a boy with red hair and a large gourd on his back. He appeared to be extremely unhappy with the kid in black and the blonde girl.

"You're a disgrace to our village. Why do you think we came all the way here to Konoha?"

"Listen, Gaara, these guys started it," said the black clothed boy as he let's the kid with the scarf down.

"Shut up," Gaara says, "I'll kill you."

The kid with the scarf runs to hide behind the kid in orange.

"I was at fault," says the black clothed boy as he cowers from the individual in the tree, "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

The boy with the gourd turns to look at the kid in orange.

"Excuse them, you guys," says Gaara.

Gaara then seems to vanish into sand and reappears on the ground in front of the boy in black and the blonde girl.

"Let's go, we didn't come here to fool around," says Gaara.

Bahzell turns around and begins to walk away, sheathing his sword as he went. As he walks away, he hears the pink haired girl yell out.

"Wait up."

Bahzell stops and looks back to see the Gaara, the blonde girl, and the kid in black had all stopped as well.

"What is it," asks the blonde girl without turning around.

"You are from Sunagakure no Sato, right? The Kaze no Kuni and Hi no Kuni have an alliance, but the treaty prevents ninja from entering each other's countries without permission. State your purpose. Depending on your reasons, I will…"

"'What you're looking for is closer to you than you think.' You don't know anything," says the blonde girl as she holds up an ID badge, "This is a traffic pass. As you guessed, we are genins from the Sunagakure no Sato from Kaze no Kuni. We are here for the Chuunin selection exams."

"Chuunin selection exams," mumbles the kid in orange with a confused and slightly stupid look on his face, "What's a chuunin selection exam?"

"You must really not know," says the blonde girl, looking smug.

"It's a competition, more or less, between villages showing off their newest ninja in the hopes of getting the more of the missions from the elite guests that will be attending the third portion of the exam, including daimyos from all of the countries and rich businessmen. It's held every six months in a different village. The host village is sent requests to attend and is responsible for the safety of all participants when not in participating in an exam," said Bahzell.

During his explanation, all of the people had turned to look at him. A few with shock, such as the pink haired girl and the kid in orange; others with confusion, such as the three little kids; and others with indifference, such as Gaara and the dark haired kid in the tree.

"While it isn't the only way to become chuunin, it is the most well known," finishes Bahzell.

He begins to walk away again when the pink haired girl speaks.

"What village are you from and are you here for the exam as well?"

"Yamigakure. And yes, I am."

With that, he walks away, leaving the rest of the people there.

--

_**The Day of the Exam…**_

**Aoi Shishi Ryokan…**

Fei walks into the room shared by Bahzell and Ryouken.

"Everyone ready?"

"Lina is still in her room, she should be here in a minute," says Bahzell.

"If she wants any food before the exam, she needs to hurry up."

"I'm here, where's the food?"

'_Works every time,'_ thinks Fei.

"Okay, game faces people. Try to keep as low a profile as you can. Between Bahzell's height, Ryouken's bloodthirstiness, and Lina's…colorfulness, I know it will be hard, but at least try. As soon as you have all changed, I will guide you to the exam. Meet me in the lobby in thirty minutes."

With that he left.

--

A/N: Sorry about the Sailor Moon joke, I couldn't resist it. Oh yeah, I don't own that either…thank god. Sorry about the long time in updating, but I had a few decisions to make on this chapter and I eventually broke down and flipped a coin on it. So now you end up with Bahzell showing up during the first confrontation between Team 7 and the Sand siblings. It should flow a lot smoother now until the second exam or the prelims, probably going to need to flip another coin during the second exam about some things. Before I receive countless reviews (assuming I am reviewed…) about how I'm not naming the characters, remember, this is from the point of view of Bahzell, Ryouken, Lina, and Fei unless otherwise stated. None of them know the names of anyone until they are said by someone else or introduced, so I will be doing a lot of these little descriptions, i.e. pink haired girl. Finally, if you want to tell me what I'm doing wrong, other than taking a long time to update, let me know and let me know a way to fix it, assuming the correction isn't completely obvious. Later.


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